Adult item Policy review with Ai
I understand both sides of complaints from a buyers and sellers perspective with adult content on Ebay. What had change from the past is that Ebay had an adult only category which got removed, now it is up to the seller to list the subject NUDE so it falls into a created 'adult category'. The issue is, certain sellers use this NUDE keyword in subject and the item does not get propagated in the search listing. Thus the seller is paying for a posted listing without any views, the main way it gets viewed is if a saved seller or other item buyer click on your profile to view other items you are selling. There are selected sellers who do the exact same thing and gets adult item listed and searchable. With that, sellers are forced to watermark the image to cover up and not use the NUDE keyword in subject. Ai is showing customers adult content to buyers who are not interested in adult content items. We need to bring back the old system so the Adult content has its own space and doesn't get fed to the general public, only to those who subscribe or log into adult content. Please escalate this to the Policy team for a clear understanding of the root cause which solves both the customer and seller complaints.
ark_discovery
OP8 months agoThe patterns show grifters with limited understanding in this field give bad suggestions, yet choose to comment in this space... for the likes and what reward? Like crypto there are multiple facets of the technology, just ask Ai about the govt contracts and changes coming. All it would take is a national emergency to register your ID, already started across asia. It will combine all your personal and online data, have Ai translate it, and put restrictions on wallets, careful what you post. Escalation on the rise
jonathanbrightlight
·8 months ago@ark_discovery
Care to translate that into English?
gurlcat
·8 months agoI believe they're claiming eBay just "now" created "new policy categories" and did so because they were following this thread (and the forums in general -I think that's what was meant by "in support", like there are eBay agents "in" here). I have no idea what it meant by "new policy categories" though.
Then the rest is just owning us dumb losers for not knowing how eBay actually works, and "the govt contracts" etc.
But you know, for some reason reading this post just now conjured a memory of an episode of 'Untold Stories of the E.R.' I saw years ago. A woman came in claiming "I have worms in me" almost cheerfully, and the staff didn't know what to make of it. Like maybe she had some kind of parasites, or believed she did (worm/insect infestations are a super common delusion in acute or chronic mental illness). But in this case there was no delusion whatsoever; the real crazy was in what this woman meant by "worms" and "in" her ....
(story starts a the 5:53 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R7W2TsykkY )
I think the lesson is just because someone sounds ... a certain way ... it doesn't mean what they're saying isn't true. Maybe there are agents in here, and they just gave the OP their wildest dream about blurring naked lady listings or whatever!
janet9988
·8 months agoark_discovery
OP9 months agoMost companies will not accept unsolicited ideas because there are legal issues involved. It must be done through internal channels.
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoThat’s why I provided the link that eBay offers with options within it to submit your suggestions. Perhaps you chose not to read the actual content.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoHave you or anyone you know had any success with this route?
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoI’ve never had reason to use it.
onlinecentral
·9 months agoHere is an ethnic saying translated into English.
Don‘t go to another monastery with your own rules.
meme6253
·9 months agoThe Best thing to do is to stay away from trying to sell that type of product, There are too many issues with it,That quite frankly are just not worth it.
luckythewinner
·9 months agoWhat had change from the past is that Ebay had an adult only category which got removed, now it is up to the seller to list the subject NUDE so it falls into a created 'adult category'.
I think if you read between the line, eBay does not really want adult items on their site. And they certainly aren't going to pay employees to manually review thousands and thousands of listings for things they don;t really want.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoAre you sure its ebay or the customers that are complaining. This energy gets shifted to the customer service staff that has to deal with it. There are a handful of sellers that is it 100% allowed without any restrictions in the subject category. Many people shift with the economy and sales have plummeted across the USA. With a bad economy people buy things that might lift up spirits in hope of an investment, physical tradable goods, similar to the current silver market, that holds value.
iamalwaysright
·9 months agoOoooh, that's why I've been seeing nekkid images on some listings popping up on my pages. Just last week there was a bumper sticker listing that popped up of a lady in the buff and I was wondering whoa, how did ebay allow this? Yea I didn't give much thought to the ins and outs of it but I would say just for my own benefit, it'd be nice if ebay brought back the adult category since sometimes I'm sifting thru ebay in front of my kids. Doesn't sound like it's ever going to happen tho.
I remember I used to sell some womens clothes that actually called and advertised some of the colors as "Nude" instead of Beige. I'm glad they didn't throw my listings into the adult category back then.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoBasically if it comes down to who sets up the category, the platform or the client, the structure can be left the way it is. Ebay does not need to make a tab on the site, yet follow how goggle filters adult content to blur. If you are verified and uncheck the box, it is then you can be shown adult content. All content watermarked like etsy would double safeguard. This way all sellers can use the Nude subject with content searchable only if the client unchecks the box. This would also align with international laws.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoThe investors and board of directors would have a concern if there are countless hours of downtime and missed earnings related to this issue a month. When dealing with a sector of 1.3 million items, its a large case that can translate to higher potential profit. Kens approach of taking it somewhere else hurts ebays profits.
christworks
·9 months agoThere are a lot of things that hurt eBay profits, but they have policies in place to ban certain items anyway.
It isn't just the payment processor. SESTA and FOSTA laws went into effect a number of years ago. These removed a lot of the protections websites had under Section 230, which said platforms were not legally responsible for what users posted. Payment processors, like Adyen, along with eBay investors do not want eBay getting into legal trouble because a user posts revenge korn or worse on the platform. Removing the adult content category reduces some of their legal liability. That's really what is all goes back to.
As @kensgiftshop said, there are other places who are better set up to handle adult content. Buyers looking for that stuff will go wherever it is at.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoIf you look at the sales history, the largest buyers are on ebay. I am not familiar with any other site that handles on a international level, the biggest buyers are sometimes outside the USA. I lowkey list commercial vintage content over 50 years old which all have been watermark, they do not show obscene images. If a separate category was place with no obscene images (if everyone watermarks), wouldn't this bypass the laws you talk about and satisfy the general public from not seeing them. I have seen etsy follow this route (watermarked) but the buyers market is not on there as Ai edited content has taken over the platform. As of now, the ebay Nude category is allowing nudity which then the ai sometimes propagates it to the general based on keyword searches.
gurlcat
·9 months agoeBay could be the hottest place to buy ivory and firearms too if they were allowed, but that doesn't give people who want to sell those things here the right to demand it.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoThe issue here the ai picking up peoples online habits, meta data, phone data and may translate keywords into the engine. If following google and etsy models, it can be censored with the ease of a checkbox.
christworks
·9 months agoThose laws are not about all obscene material per se. They are about people posting revenge porn, human trafficking, and CSAM. Under Section 230, a platform like eBay or Facebook was not legally responsible if a user posted such content. Under the laws I cited, platforms can be held both criminally and civilly responsible if a user posts illegal content. Having a separate adult category on eBay would place a heavy burden on eBay to continuously monitor it, perhaps having to pay employees to physically review listings to ensure those listings complied with the law. Companies are not going to want to trust stuff like that to AI, at least not right now. As @gurlcat noted, even the payment processors do not want anything to do with adult content because the law can reach them as well should they process a payment of a user who buys such material. No CEO nor investors want that type of exposure. Any profit in it isn't worth it.
This is the case with a lot of things. I can't sell perfectly good but expired health supplements on eBay. Why? Because it exposes eBay to to civil liability if they knowingly allow it. eBay takes a conservative approach on those things as I have to pull anything that will expire next month no later than the end of this month, even though the government does not consider it expired until the last day of the month of expiration. eBay is missing out on sales, but they prefer to limit their risk of liability. By requiring sellers to remove those items a month ahead, it gives time for them to review listings during the month of expiration.
There won't be any adult category coming back anytime soon. I think we will see even more of a shift to adult products being completely prohibited, particularly if they have any type of nudity associated with them. I should be able to search eBay and not feel like I am on a korn site.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoIf you look at googles model, it is not a category but a checkbox that blurs this kind of content. It can use the current model, just modified so that the general does not see it. The korn and things you talk about is not allowed on ebay. Google and Etsy are good examples on how they deal with this situation. Ebay is an established international company with more complex regulations, which stands out from the rest. I am a international top rated seller. Nudity is not allowed on etsy, although when covered appropriately with a watermark, it is no longer classified as nude. The ebay adult policy spec also is based on the listing preview, the content based restriction is for completely banned items which does not belong here.
christworks
·9 months agoYour comparisons are misguided.
First, Google is nothing like eBay. Google is a search and content indexing platform. It isn't a transactional marketplace, like eBay, and it does not process payments for the content it indexes. Google does not facilitate a sale and does not accept payments. There is no listing fee paid to Google for sexual content that may be displayed. Google does not host the content they index. This far different from reselling platforms like eBay or even Etsy. The law would only be a problem for Google if they knowingly assisted, facilitated or somehow supported the content in question.
Etsy is a platform that mostly hosts handmade items. In very limited circumstances they allow artistic nudity. They do not allow hardcore pornography. Like anything, people may post it there, but it is against their policy. They are generally quick to remove anything that even borders that.
eBay has a different risk profile because they are a global marketplace, as you said. Their exposure is far greater than a site like Etsy. They process many, many more transactions, and allow a wider variety of items to be sold. A blur checkbox does not reduce civil liability, the risk of criminal facilitation, nor compliance with Adyen's policies.
If you do not get it, I am sorry. eBay's rules on this are not going to change, no matter what you think or feel they should do or can do, or what other companies allow/don't allow.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoThis is where you are confusing things, I am not referring to items not allowed on ebay. International laws also do not allow this. What i am referring to is combing both google and etsy model together to make it work. Googles model to satisfy the general public viewing, etsys model to ban all nudes. Your misinterpretation is making yourself complicated with different policies. Never did anyone talk about banned items that are not allowed on ebay nor is anyone trying to change that policy because it is part of the international law.
simba6
·9 months agoI just looked and there is no shortage of Doc Johnson items listed.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoI clocked it at 1.3million items at some given times Simba
ten_o_nine
·9 months agoeBay’s move away from a dedicated "Adult Only" category was intended to sanitize the marketplace, but it has backfired by forcing adult content into general categories (like Art or Collectibles) where it is harder to filter out.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoI agree with you 10o9, Ai also enhanced it for both sides. Social media like X is also experiencing this same issue.
gurlcat
·9 months agoIt wasn't eBay's decision. It was Ayden, the payment processor.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoThis is really insightful Gurlcat, do you see any other direction for this issue?
gurlcat
·9 months agoNot the teeniest pinhole ray of hope.
iamalwaysright
·9 months agoHm, ironic since Europeans are usually more comfortable with nudity 😀
ekmadonna
·9 months agoNot true, Not intended to sanitize the marketplace but to Follow International Credit Card Rules when NEW Payment Processor Adyen Came onboard.
janet9988
·9 months agoNo one here can escalate anything. Simply covering up the nude part on a listing is not allowed anyway.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoCan you imagine the thousands of hours of resources wasted by ebay handling this from customers and sellers. People are collecting the old film like Pokemon cards because the technology is no longer available, cannot be reproduced and a high selling item. What is your solution?
kensgiftshop
·9 months agoThere's plenty of other sites to sell that kind of stuff on.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoAre you advising the whole community to leave ebay? If you do a sold history search on 35mm slides, it is a very large portion of sales on ebay. Can you list the names of other sites you recommend that has the international presence?
kensgiftshop
·9 months agoAll I'm saying, there are better sites to sell those kind of items.
It getting to where you can't even browse Ebay with kids around, you never know when that stuff is going to pop up.
ark_discovery
OP9 months agoWhat is your issue with going back to the old Adult only section where a verification is required so it not pop up into your general feed?
kensgiftshop
·9 months agoDon't have an issue with that, but don't think they'll ever do it.
They got rid of the adult section for a reason.
gurlcat
·9 months agoThat's totally allowed. I don't know where you got the idea that it isn't.